Final Flashcards
Define finance
Finance is the study of how and under what terms savings (money) are allocated between lenders and borrowers.
Explain what is involved in the study of finance
- Finance is about what terms and through what channels the allocations are made.
- Whenever funds are transferred, a financial contract comes into existence, and these contracts are called financial securities.
What are the major sectors of the economy?
The four major sectors of the economy are government, business, households, and non-residents.
How do the three channels function in transferring money?
Money is transferred from lenders to borrowers through the following three channels:
- Financial intermediaries transform the nature of the securities they issue and invest in
- Market intermediaries that simply make the markets work better,
- Non-market transactions in which the market is not involved.
What are the basic type of financial instruments?
Debt (loans) and equity (ownership)
How are the financial markets divided?
Primary and secondary markets
What are financial securities?
A financial contract that exists when funds are transferred
What is net worth (equity)?
The difference between the value of what is owned and owed
What is the goal of the firm?
To create value for the firm’s shareholders by maximizing the price of the existing common stock
How can we increase/decline stock price?
Good financial decisions will help increase stock price and poor financial decisions will lead to a decline in stock price.
What is the role of management?
Management serves as an arbitrator and moderator between conflicting interest groups or stakeholders and objectives
How do we moderate employer/shareholder liabilities?
- Creditors, managers, employees and customers hold contractual claims against the company
- Shareholders have residual claims against the company
What are the three basic issues addressed by the study of finance?
Decisions
- Capital budgeting decision
- Capital structure decision
- Operating decision
What does operating decision look at?
How to manage cash flows arising from day-to-day operations
What do capital structure decisions looks at?
How will we get the money?
What do capital budgeting decision look at?
What are we doing to do with the money?
What are the principles of finance?
- Cash Flow Is What Matters (when is the cash flow coming in?)
- Money Has a Time Value
- Risk Requires Reward
What does “Money Has a Time Value” look at?
- A dollar received today is worth more than a dollar received in the future
- Since we can earn interest on money received today, it is better to receive money sooner rather than later.
What does “Cash Flow Is What Matters” look at?
- Accounting profits are not equal to cash flows.
- It is possible for a firm to generate accounting profits but not have cash or to generate cash flows but not report accounting profits in the books.
- Cash flow, and not profits, drive the value of a business and keep it afloat.
*We must determine additional cash flows when making financial decisions.
What does “Risk Requires Reward” look at?
- Risk is the uncertainty about the outcome or payoff of an investment in the future.
- Rational investors would choose a riskier investment only if they feel the expected return is high enough to justify the greater risk.
How do we find future value?
Opening balance x % interest (the amount of times) = ending balance
How do we measure present value?
PV = FV / (1+interest rate) ^number of years
How do we measure the NPV (Net Present Value)?
- Calculate the present value of cash inflows,
- Calculate the present value of cash outflows,
- Subtract the present value of the outflows from the present value of the inflows.
If the NPV is negative, is the project acceptable?
NO! Only when positive and zero
What are some typical cash outflows?
- Initial Investment (cash need to purchase asset)
- Incremental operating costs
- Repairs and maintenance of new equipment
- Additional investment in inventory
What are some typical cash inflows?
- Incremental revenues
- Reduction of operating costs
What does cost of capital mean?
A firm’s minimum required rate of return
What are real assets?
Tangible things owned by persons and businesses
- Residential structures and property (personal assets)
- Major appliances and automobiles (consumer durables)
- Office towers, factories, mines (business assets)
- Machinery and equipment
What are financial assets?
What one individual has lent to another
* Consumer credit
* Loans
* Mortgages
What is the NBSA and what is it’s role?
National Balance Sheet Accounts
Role = to collect financial data on the major agents in the financial system and then track the borrowing and lending between the agents
What are the three functions of money?
- Medium of exchange
- Standard of value
- Store of value
What is medium of exchange?
How transactions are conducted:
Something that is generally acceptable in exchange for goods and services. In this function, money removes the need for double coincidence of wants by separating sellers from buyers.
What is standard of value?
How the value of goods & services are denominated:
Something that circulates and provides a standardized means of evaluating the relative price of goods and services.
Reason for why an item is priced that way
What is store of value?
How the value of goods & services are maintained in monetary terms:
The ability of money to command purchasing power in the future.
What are the different channels of money transfer?
- Financial intermediaries
- Market intermediaries
- Non-market transactions
Describe financial intermediaries
Transform the nature of the securities they issue and invest in (bank, insurance company) → investing funds on behalf of others
Describe market intermediaries
Make the markets work better, do not change the nature of the transaction (i.e. real estate broker, stock broker)
Describe non-market transactions
In which the markets are not involved (i.e. lending money to your sibling so they can buy a car)
What is intermediation?
The transfer of funds from lenders to borrowers (bringing parties together)
What is the first channel?
Direct intermediation – the lender provides money directly to the borrower (non-market transaction, family or friend)
What is the second channel?
Direct intermediation through a market intermediary – the borrower, uses a market intermediary to help find suitable lenders
What is market intermediary?
An entity that facilitates the working of markets, to assist with transactions and bring borrowers together (mortgage brokers, insurance brokers, stockbrokers)
What is the third channel?
Indirect intermediation, direct claim on financial institution – the financial intermediary lends the money to the ultimate borrowers but raises the money itself by borrowing directly from other individuals (principal transactions, principal on its own behalf)
What is retail markets?
When market intermediaries help individuals
What is institutional markets?
When market intermediaries help financial intermediaries
What is the fourth market?
Trades made directly between investors (usually large institutions), without involving brokers or dealers, operates through privately owned automated systems
What are the 4 important factors of the financial system?
Banks, insurance companies, pension funds, mutual funds
How do banks function in the financial system?
Take in deposits and make loans
How do insurance companies function in the financial system?
Take in insurance premiums and pay off when an incident occurs
How do pension funds function in the financial system?
Take in contribution and provide pension payments after plan members retire
How do mutual funds function in the financial system?
Simply act as a “pass through” for individuals, providing them with a convenient way to invest in the equity and debt markets.
What is a credit crunch?
A situation in which financial intermediaries have to raise the cost of their loans by a significant amount because of their own inability to gain profit
What is crown corporations?
Government-owned companies that provide good and services needed by Canadians
What are the different types of equity instruments?
Common shares and preferred shares
What are common shares?
Part ownership in a company, usually gives voting rights on major decisions affecting the company
What are preferred shares?
Ownership that has a higher claim on assets and earnings than common stock has
Payment in dividends
Criteria of common stocks
- The common stockholders are the owners of the corporation’s equity
- Voting rights
- No specified maturity date and the firm is not obliged to pay dividends to shareholders
- Returns come from dividends and capital gains
- On liquidation of company, common stockholders are last in list for company assets, only after creditors, bondholders, and preferred shareholders are paid out
Criteria of preferred stock
- Equity instruments
- Usually entitle the owner to fixed dividend payments that must be made before any dividends are paid to common shareholders
- Generally do not have voting rights in the company
- Have characteristics of both bonds and stocks
- On liquidation of the company, preferred stockholders will be paid out before common stockholders (but after creditors/bondholders)
- First pick
What are the financial markets?
- Primary and secondary markets
- Money and capital market
- Organized exchanges and over-the-counter
What is a primary market?
Involve the issue of new securities by the borrower in return for cash from investors (or lenders) [i.e. new securities are created]
What is a secondary market?
Provide trading (or market) environments that permit investors and buy and sell existing securities
What are exchanges or auction markets?
Secondary markets that involve a bidding process that takes place in a specific location
What are money market securities?
Short term debt instruments (maturities less than one year i.e. T-bills)
What are capital market securities?
Include debt securities with maturities greater than one year (i.e. bonds & equity securities) & equity securities
What are dealer or over-the-counter markets?
Secondary markets that do not have a physical location and consist of a network of dealers who trade directly with one another
What is market capitalization?
The total market value of the common equity of an entity
What is bootstrap financing?
Entrepreneur supplies funds, prepares business plan, searches for initial outside funding
What is seed-stage financing?
Venture capitalists provide to funds to finish development of the concept
What is early-stage financing?
Venture provide financing to get the business up and running
What is latter-stage financing (mezzanine financing)?
Typically includes one to five additional stages
Final stage of financing sources
Venture capitalists exit by selling to a strategic buyer, selling to a financial buyer, or selling stock to the public
Financing sources
- Bootstrap financing
- Seed-stage financing
- Early-stage financing
- Latter-stage financing
- Venture capitalists exit
Criteria of Bootstrap financing
- Entrepreneurs starting a business
- The initial “seed” money usually comes from the entrepreneur or other founders.
- Entrepreneur fighting out for themselves
- Other cash may come from personal savings, the sale of personal assets, loans from family and friends, use of credit cards.
- The seed money, in most cases, is spent on developing a prototype of the product or service and a business plan.
- Usually lasts 1 to 2 years
What is venture capital?
- Venture capitalists are individuals or firms that help new businesses get started and provide much of their early-stage financing.
*Individual venture capitalists or angel investors, are typically wealthy individuals who invest their own money in emerging businesses at the very early stages in small deals.
What are 3 reasons why traditional sources of funding don’t work for a new business?
- High degree of risk
- Types of productive assets (businesses without tangible assets will struggle)
- Information asymmetry problems (entrepreneurs don’t have the expertise)
What else can venture capitalists bring to the table?
- Provide advice
- They provide counsel for entrepreneurs when a business is being started and during early stages of operation
- Give them an equity interest in the company (want partial ownership)
How do venture capitalists reduce their risk?
Tactics to reduce risk:
* funding the ventures in stages
* requiring entrepreneurs to make personal investments (want to stretch you thin to ensure their investment succeeds)
* syndicating investments
* in-depth knowledge about the industry
What is syndication?
- It is a common practice to syndicate seed- and early-stage venture capital investments.
- Syndication occurs when the originating venture capitalist sells a percentage of a deal to other venture capitalists.
What is the exit strategy?
- Venture capitalists are not long-term investors in the companies, but usually exit after a period of three to seven years.
- Every venture capital agreement includes
provisions identifying who has the authority to make critical decisions concerning the exit process. - Timing (when to exit)
- The method of exit
- What price is acceptable
What is initial public offering?
Selling shares to the public
Three ways in which venture capital firms exit venture-backed companies:
- Sell to a strategic buyer in the private market
- Sell to financial buyer in the private market (private equity firm- does not expect to gain from synergies).
- Initial Public Offering: selling common stock in an initial public offering (IPO).
Disadvantages of going public
- High cost of the IPO itself
- Costs of complying with ongoing SEC (provincially) disclosure requirements
- Transparency that results from this compliance can be costly for some firms
Advantages of going public:
- Amount of equity is larger
- Additional equity can be raised at a low cost
- Can fund growing business without giving up control
- Creates secondary market for trading
- Easier to attract top management and motivate current managers
- Doesn’t have to be 100% of the business